Still Tourists!

We have a grand total of six people on our school staff. Thus, when visitors from the home office come to see KL, there's not a lot of opportunity for 'pawning them off' on someone else. :) As a result, Jalah, Clay, and I have become the go-to 'tour guides' of the city for visitors. I love this job! It's so easy for us to become consumed by schoolwork and our daily lives that we forget to take time to appreciate that we live in a foreign, semi-popular city!

Since we had just done a tour last month with other visitors, we decided we'd hit the hot spots, but also try to throw in some new sites. We started with the Petronas Towers, which never disappoint. They're so beautiful and one of these days we'll actually pay the money to go across the bridge near the top!

From there, we headed over toward Independence Square. The stop we had to get off at was Masjid Jamek (Jamek Mosque), which is one of the oldest Mosques in KL. Built in 1909 (thank you, Wikipedia!). At first we weren't sure if we would be allowed to go in because we were not dressed for the occasion, but we quickly saw a sign saying they loaned out free robes to visitors. Had they mentioned that said robes were made out of a leather/polyester mix, we may have decided it wasn't worth sweating to death just to see the place, but we had to learn our lesson the hard way. It was a really pretty piece of architecture!

After a quick trip around, we handed in our sweatsuits and continued on to Independence Square. After a quick look at the clock tower, the world's largest gong and almost seeing a man get hit by oncoming traffic, we decided to walk to Chinatown. I had walked there once before, from a completely different location, so felt very confident that I could lead get us there once again. Thankfully, I was able to get us there, but not before we saw an interesting looking structure. We decided to investigate and happened upon one of our new favorite tour stops! For whatever reason, no one had told us about Central Market, which is like Chinatown, but better. First of all, it's air conditioned. Secondly, there are restaurants there. Thirdly, the products being sold are not knock-off American brands, but handmade Asian crafts and goods. Fourthly, there is a fish "foot massage" booth here.

Are they sharks or fish?

 I'm not sure if any of you have done this whole "fish eat the dead skin off-your-feet thing, but I was a little nervous. Beside the fact that the fish were HUGE, the whole concept just kind of weirded me out, and I knew it would tickle. The boys did it first and based on their reactions, we knew it just too unique of an adventure to pass up. My preconceived notions were pretty spot on. It was the WEIRDEST feeling ever. Imagine a fish the length of your hand with a suctiony mouth nibbling at your big toe... or heel... or calf... or any piece of you that had skin. About halfway through our "exfoliation" we discovered that there was another tank next door, with the smaller fish that most people would imagine for this experience. Oh well, live and learn! Jalah and I couldn't keep our feet under the water for longer than it took to take a picture, so we just let them nibble on our heels. Even that was almost too much. When we got out, though, and our heels were sparkling clean and so fresh, we decided that next time we'd go all in, no matter what. :)

Above the massage or exfoliation, I think our favorite part of this stop was watching other people's reactions! There was one British guy who made the CRAZIEST sounds and facial expressions and even accidentally kicked a fish onto Jalah when he started flailing his legs!

Another KL tour success! We keep getting better at them! By the time YOU come and visit, we'll know ALL the hot spots! So, when's it going to be??